Felicity tapped her spoon on the table. “Not much. The title is relatively new.” She sniffed. “But as our uncle said, our family has a feud with theirs.”
That was quite enough speaking in circles for Winifred. She picked up a piece of shortbread, nibbled the edge, then said, “I wouldn’t call one family hunting the other like animals a mere ‘feud.’”
Felicity’s hands jerked, causing her to slosh tea onto the table. She grabbed a napkin and dabbed at the spill. “What did the earl tell you?”
Winifred picked up her saucer so Felicity could wipe beneath it. “Everything I needed to know. As his wife, I tend to my husband’s needs.Allof them.”
Felicity wrapped her ice-cold fingers around Winifred’s wrist. “Does he know about our family history?”
Winifred twisted out of her cousin’s grip. “That is none of your concern.”
She’d intended to convince her cousin to return to the castle with her, but now that she knew Felicity had known the truth all along but had elected not to tell her, she wasn’t sure that was a good idea.
What other secrets was her cousin keeping?
“You cannot allow him to bite you, Winnie,” Felicity said. “He is a creature of pure evil. I had thought you would be safe as his wife, but—”
“Fel!” Winifred regretted bringing up the topic in such a public venue. “Marcus is a gentleman.”
They had not been married long, but the letters they had shared had laid the groundwork for their relationship. He had his flaws, but he wasn’t cruel and certainly notevil.
Felicity narrowed her eyes. “They are monsters, Winifred, and not to be trusted.” She straightened. “But we should not discuss this here. Let’s go to the museum. There’s something I must show you.”
Winifred shifted in her seat. “I agree.” It wassuddenly much too crowded. She’d started the day intending to discover what was so important that Felicity had called her away and then convince her cousin to return with her, but now all she wanted to do was change Felicity’s mind.
It wasn’t too late. She’d indulge Felicity’s request for a museum visit and then try again.
The next hour passed in awkward silence as they found a cab and crept through the morning traffic. The cramped confines made Winifred sweat beneath her walking dress, and the quiet was almost oppressive, but she did not dare raise the topic of Marcus again while their driver could overhear. Instead, she chewed the inside of her cheek until they arrived at their destination and exited the cab.
The street outside the museum was packed, forcing Winifred and Felicity to walk arm-in-arm until they reached the entrance. After paying for tickets, Felicity urged Winifred through the crowd.
Inside it was nearly the same temperature as outside, but much less humid. Winifred hardly noticed, however, as her attention was immediately drawn to the many Greek statues dotting the open space. They were marble, and several had rugged stumps where their heads had once rested. The ones that did not, however, seemed to stare at her with sightless eyes.
“The relics are tucked in a small room at the very back,” Felicity said. “Follow me.”
Winifred shifted on her feet. “‘Relics’?”
“They are the reason I needed you to come to Glasgow. It is better you see them before we discuss your husband further.” She started walking away, forcing Winifred to run to catch up.
“Most of the relics were found in Rome,” Felicity said, in the crisp tones of a woman used to giving speeches. “The ‘Winston cache,’ as it is now known, is the largest collection of vampiric artifacts ever discovered.”
Winifred’s shoes squeaked on the marble tile as she missed a step. “Did you sayvampiricartifacts?”
“Yes,” Felicity said without stopping. “It has been difficult to find a museum to agree to display them, as you might imagine.” Her cousin turned a corner and entered a dark room. When Winifred joined her, what she saw inside made her jaw drop open. There was an enormous closed casket leaning against the wall, a framed sketch of a hulking creature that could only have been a werewolf, and crosses hanging from nails driven into the walls.
Felicity caressed the edge of the casket. “The vampire trap is my favorite. It can hold as many as three vampires and the wood was soaked in a particular blend of herbs designed to mimic the effect of sunlight.” She rubbed a spot with her sleeve. “This is only one of several I’ve helped restore. Uncle Ethan says there is a spell on them that makes them irresistible to vampires.”
“That’s barbaric,” Winifred whispered. She wasn’t sure which was worse; that she couldn’t stop imagining Marcus screaming as he was shoved into the casket, or that in her imagination, her cousin was the one doing the shoving.
Felicity’s smile widened. “Our family has spent decades gathering these treasures. Which you would know if your mother hadn’t taken you to Toronto. Individually, they would present as mere curiosities, but together…” She inhaled sharply. “Well, I hope it is enough to convince some to reconsider their beliefs. And if your husband’s nest decides that makes me too dangerous to be allowed to live… Well.” She sniffed. “At least I will have tried.”
Winifred felt like a fox that had dismissed a shining, silver circle on the forest floor as unimportant until metal teeth closed around her leg. She’d underestimated her cousin. “You don’t mean that.”
Marcus might be furious when he learned of Felicity’s actions, but he was no killer. Not anymore. The remorse he’d expressed about the lives he’d taken made that obvious.
That was when Winifred spotted the small portraitnestled among a collection of others. She stepped forward with numb hands until she was close enough to make out the detail of the face in the daguerreotype. Within seconds, she knew it was Marcus. If she could recognize him, surely others would as well. He had not been out in society for a decade, but there would still be people who remembered his face.
“You can’t do this,” Winifred said before she could think about what she was doing. She turned to her cousin. “If anyone learns you donated the items for this exhibit, they will think you are mad.”
